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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

How it took 11 years for me to fill out a form – Part 3

Welcome
back.I’m glad you are still with me.If you are new you can catch up and we’ll
wait for you.The first day covered our relocation through 4 jobs:New
Orleans, North Carolina, Ohio, and Chicago.Day 2 was about our time spent in Chicago and the first connection made in this story.Now we are on
to New York City.Here we go.

In the spring of 2005 we
were headed back east.There was no way
we wanted to live in Manhattan after being in the city of Chicago.They are two completely different beasts.Several factors caused us to land in
Stamford, CT.I’m not sure what exactly
to say about that part of the country except that it can be a surreal existence
at times.There are nearly as many
celebrities and corporate executives as there are average joes.I’m part of the latter, but lived just down
the road from the former.That will have
to wait for another day.

First order of business was
to find a church.Let me tell you, that
is not the easiest thing to do in certain parts of the country.This would be one of those parts.It took a while but we settled into a small
church in Greenwich, CT.Yes, THAT
Greenwich.It was very much like being
in a church plant.It was there that
some very deep friendships were forged over coffee, cupcakes and
calendars.I think these three tools are
all that’s really necessary for women to change the world!

Over the 4 years I was there,
with my amazing friends, we grew a women’s ministry and love for each other
that is deep and abiding.Greenwich is
where the next link in my chain was made.After we’d been there for a little while an associate pastor for
community life was added.With him came
an amazing wife and two precious children.This is when Amy met Becky!

Becky is a pastor’s wife
(now) with a deep passion for God’s word and encouraging other women. Any given fall day, you might just find her at Starbuck’s with a pumpkin spice
latte in hand.I think she would lobby for
the first day they are in store as a national holiday.She also shares her passion and her life
freely and warmly at Daye by Daye.

Becky and I also shared a
deep love for the city of Chicago.She
and her husband had both gone to Moody.Our time had overlapped there, but our paths had never crossed even
though they came very close at times. We were able to share our city one
time.We returned to Chicago at the end
of January in 2009.The lovely Daye
family spent the afternoon with us at Navy Pier shortly after the New Year in
2010.By this time we totaled 8 instead
of 6, each of us adding a little boy.That was just one other pier in the foundation our friendship.This is a relationship that was formed in
real life, but has since mainly moved online and to the telephone.It is a strong one and in October we will be
like giddy school girls sharing a room at the Allume conference in
Pennsylvania.

One
note: I feel like I am slighting the other amazing people there by not writing
our story.I am hoping to introduce you
to more of them in the future.But this
is not the time for those stories.

May of 2011 we made our most
recent move back to our home state of Virginia.Granted we are still 6 ½ hours away from our family, but we are at least
in the same state now.We are in the
suburbs of Washington, D.C.surrounded
by people and knowing no one. I do have some friends relatively nearby, but
connecting with them has been difficult.Things started looking up this past spring.I started hearing about local meetups that
would be happening all over the country.I checked the (in)Courage website to learn more.There were towns listed but no takers.I kept checking.Oh how, I wanted to meet people.

THE BIG FINISH

This is where God started to
slide the jigsaw pieces together and give me a glimpse at the picture.It was just a peek.The Gypsy Mama had posted on her wall that
she was gonna host and who wanted to come?Jill, aka Mrs. Diaper Diaries, tagged me in a response saying that I
needed to get in on this because we were close.I did!In April at the (in)RL meetup I had the pleasure of getting to know Lisa-Jo. My chain now had three links.

Lisa-Jo
sent an email to me about the (in)Courage community leader applications and told me to pray
about it, look it over, and think of a partner.I’ll give you three guesses who?I bet you only need one.At this
point the links all connected and I sat dumbfounded at how God had worked for so
long, in my mind, for me to fill out an application that took 10 minutes, after
discussing with Becky and having her
pray as well.These three other women
have been placed in my life for such a time as this and now it’s up to me to
use that chain.

So 11 years after meeting Jill in Chicago I hit submit on an
application that took 10 minutes to complete.The rest is up to God, but already I’ve seen him work in an amazing
way.I’m grateful for getting to see
this jigsaw puzzle completed – no pieces missing.

Now for the next one…

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord - Jeremiah 29:11

7 comments:

I'm so excited to be meeting you at Allume... I still think our rooms should be side by side! With an adjoining door! Who is in charge of that?Thanks for being such an encouragement to me on twitter! You will make an awesome incourage community leader.

Wow- where did you find those old pictures?!! :) Oh, so many memories. And what a GREAT God we have. The way He orchestrates lives and puts people together is truly remarkable.Can't wait to see you again and to laugh and share stories! And can't wait to see how God wants to continue to use us for His glory.Who would have thought that 5 years after meeting we would still be in a place where we could serve Him together? Love that, love Him, love YOU!